Red Skull
Johann Schmidt is the former head of HYDRA, the special weapons division of the Nazi Schutzstaffel and a modern-day incarnation of the ancient society. Having became a confidant of Adolf Hitler during World War II, Schmidt gained ambitions to become the superior man, leading him to test the version of Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serum on himself, resulting with him becoming hideously disfigured as well as gaining the name of Red Skull. While he led HYDRA, Red Skull had found the Tesseract which he had believed could help him to control the world. However, Red Skull's plans were challenged by the Allies' only super soldier, Captain America, who destroyed the HYDRA facilities. Once Red Skull had launched his offensive, intending to bring the United States down onto its knees, he was intercepted by Captain America and then vanished into a wormhole as he touched the Tesseract with his bare hands. Red Skull was teleported to Vormir, where he became trapped in a state of purgatory, becoming the Stonekeeper, a wraith advising whoever sought the Soul Stone. After seven decades on Vormir, Red Skull met Thanos and Gamora, as they sought the Soul Stone. Red Skull led them to it and disappeared after Thanos sacrificed Gamora as he claimed his prize. As Thanos had obtained the stone, Red Skull's curse was broken, and he was free to leave Vormir and pursue his own goals once more, returning to Earth in an attempt to regain his long lost memories. History Early Life Johann Schmidt was born in North Germany as a smart, only child who had eventually became a physicist. Over the years, Schmidt became interested in Norse mythology, developing a theory that Norse Gods and their "Magic" could be more than myth.1 Upon meeting Adolf Hitler, Schmidt intrigued him with his theories, while Heinrich Himmler had recruited Schmidt to the Schutzstaffel. However, Schmidt's rise in power with Nazi Germany was stalled by Ernst Kaufmann, who then attempted to block Schmidt's access to Hitler. Unwilling to allow his new position to be challenged, in June 1934, as part of their Night of the Long Knives, Schmidt had then murdered Kaufmann as he managed to seize control over his weapons program. Head of HYDRA With Ernst Kaufmann dead, Schmidt continued slaughtering his enemies, attacking the facility in Kummersdorf, where he had recruited Arnim Zola. Eventually, Schmidt rose into the rank of Obergruppenführer, and formed his own branch of the SS, renaming it HYDRA. Schmidt had based HYDRA on an ancient society that worshiped a powerful Inhuman; this past belief being kindred to all Schmidt's theories.3 In September 1935, Schmidt learned that Abraham Erskine had attempted to flee Germany with his family. Wanting access to Erskine's work on the superior man, Schmidt imprisoned his family in a concentration camp, where they eventually died, which Schmidt did not tell Erskine. In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, thus starting World War II. As the war continued, Schmidt had actively participated in several German conquests, earning several high military decorations, including the Panzer Badge and the Iron Cross First Class, and Schmidt may have also suffered a wound during combat to merit him the Wound Badge which he would wear on his own SS uniform. In 1940, Schmidt had learned that, at long last, the first, unstable version of Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serumwas now finished, which Schmidt had desired for himself. However, despite Schmidt's orders and even the threat of execution, Erskine refused to hand it over to Schmidt. In the end, Schmidt took the Super Soldier Serum by force and had Erskine imprisoned before ordering that Erskine's own wifeand children were sent into a concentration camp. Having regained Erskine's serum as he had intended, Schmidt then traveled onto Castle Kaufmann in the Bavarian Alps, where Schmidt had injected himself with the serum in order to get superpowers. The serum was supposed to make him faster, stronger, and agiler, and Schmidt soon felt all the effects running through his body, as his muscles grew and his mind became clearer, as Schmidt finally became the superior man as he had always intended. Becoming Red Skull However, the process also came with some painful side effects and rendered Schmidt with a red and horrifically deformed face. Though he adopted a synthetic mask that resembled his former appearance to disguise the deformity, he became known as "Red Skull".1 While Erskine then fled and sought refuge in the United States with the help of Peggy Carter, joining with the Strategic Scientific Reserve in order to continue his own research and aid the allies during the war. As compensation, Adolf Hitler gave Schmidt a new base in the Alps, which became the headquarters of HYDRA, working on weapons for the Third Reich. However, Schmidt saw his new post more as an exile than as a reward. He continued his research into the occult and developed a sense that HYDRA had become superior to the Nazis and sought to find a weapon that would overthrow Hitler. Schmidt searched for the Darkhold, but he never managed to find it. Finding the Tesseract Schmidt shared in Adolf Hitler's passion for occult power, although Schmidt's belief in it proved stronger than Hitler's as his obsession with understanding his powers grew. Researching in history to find the greatest weapon ever known to mankind, Schmidt learned of the Tesseract, which was lost on Earth having been held in Odin's Vault. Believing it to not be a myth, Schmidt began searching for it, knowing it would give him the power to defeat both Hitler and the Allies.In March 1942, following a possible lead as to the current location of their ultimate weapon, Schmidt had led his HYDRAarmy as they had invaded Tønsberg, Norway, searching for the Tesseract. As they were entering a church with his army led by their Uber Tanks, Schmidt had ordered his men to demolish the door of an ancient church where the Tesseract supposedly was, killing Jan in the process as Schmidt had arrived in his car to investigate the potential site of the Tesseract. As he had entered the church, Schmidt found his soldiers attempting to open an ancient tomb under the orders from the Lieutenant, while the Church Keeper was being held at gun point on the ground. As he entered, Schmidt addressed the Church Keeper, commenting on how it had taken him a long time to find this church. However, the Church Keeper still bravely refused to submit to them, despite witnessing the death of Jan, insisting that the Tesseract was simply a legend. When his soldiers attempted to find it for him, Schmidt, after seeing that his soldiers were unable to move the marble coffin's heavy lid off, then proceeded to shove the lid effortlessly using all the strength he had gained from Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serum. Once the coffin was opened, Schmidt had then found what appeared to be the Tesseract, which was taken from the bones of an ancient soldier. However, Schmidt had deduced this to be a fake and instead calmly smashed the glass cube on the ground without a second thought. Schmidt noted that while it had been kept on Asgard, the Tesseract was the jewel of Odin's Vault and was not the sort of item that would be buried inside of a grave, although he remained convinced that the true Tesseract was undoubtedly close to their location, as he began questioning the Church Keeper over this. Unwilling to leave without his prize, Schmidt threatened the Church Keeper with obliterating the village and then potentially killing the church keeper's entire family. Fearful of the innocent lives that would be lost if he did not submit to HYDRA, the church keeper had finally relented and indicated to the wall behind them. Looking at this wall, Schmidt commented on how it depicted Yggdrasil and the Nine Realms, before finding a button in the eye on the snake, granting him access to a hidden box. Opening up the box carefully, Schmidt had been amazed to find the Tesseract inside, much to the complete and utter horror of the church keeper. Looking at the Tesseract, Schmidt asked the church keeper if he had ever seen it, which he denied. Ignoring all the Keeper's warnings that the Tesseract was not for the eyes of ordinary men, Schmidt was told that he would burn if he had tried to use it. Recalling using the Super Soldier Serum, Schmidt told the man that he already had burned and shot and killed the church keeper before he gave an order to destroy the entire village as he walked away with his greatest weapon. Containing the Tesseract Having finally obtained the Tesseract following his years-long search, Schmidt had returned into his HYDRA Headquarters as he gave the artifact to Arnim Zola, his chief scientist, for examination in order to increase HYDRA's arsenal of weapons with the Tesseract's incredible power. As they prepared to begin the test to test to see if all its power could be harnessed and stored inside the Tesseract Cradle, Zola had hesitated due to fear of losing control since he was still uncertain of how exactly much power the Tesseract had truly held, due to his limited knowledge of the device, and if his machines would be able to handle it without overloading. With everything in place, Schmidt then collected the Tesseract from the container he had found it inside in Tønsberg, taking extra care to transfer the Tesseract into Zola's machine. As the experiment began, Zola's uncertainty led to him carefully raising the pressure by a small percentage, eventually stabilizing the device at just seventy percent. Schmidt, however, then insisted that he had not come all that way to be cautious and pushed Zola out of the way of the control panel. Ignoring all of Zola's warnings, Schmidt then proceeded to overload the machine, causing it to break due to all the Tesseract's incredible power. Schmidt and Zola watched as the entire room was filled with a strange light as the machine crashed. Although they had believed that the machine broke down due to the high amount of energy, they had then discovered the Tesseract Battery had actually succeeded in capturing just a small dose of the Tesseract's true power inside it. Zola then realized that just the very small amount of energy they had captured could power the entire facility and help them build weapons powerful enough to change World War II, allowing the Nazis to defeat the United States of America and claim victory. Seeing this, however, Schmidt had other ideas. He knew that HYDRA now had the power to overthrow Adolf Hitler so Schmidt could then take over full control and rule the world as leader of HYDRA's ultimate superpower. Betraying the Nazis Schmidt, having discovered Abraham Erskine's location, dispatched his assassin to kill him, informing Arnim Zola of this as Schmidt was in the middle of being painted while unmasked. In America, Erskine then subjected Steve Rogers to the Project Rebirth, transforming him into an incredibly powerful soldier, but Heinz Kruger, Schmidt's assassin, managed to successfully assassinate Erskine and destroy all of the Allies' supply of the serum before committing suicide. When SS officers came to Schmidt's base under Adolf Hitler's orders to question him about the progress in developing advanced weapons for the Third Reich, Schmidt then personally showed them around his headquarters. While they explored the facility, Schmidt had listened as Schneider noted Hitler's displeasure with his actions, noting that he had been given the facility as a reward for Schmidt's injuries from taking the Super Soldier Serum, although Schmidt called it exile. While Roeder then complained about Schmidt's lack of weapons for Hitler's armies, Schneider commented on Hitler's dwindling approval of HYDRA as he insulted Schmidt by using his hated nickname, Red Skull. Upon being insulted by these Nazi Officers, Schmidt made his decision to kill them all and cut all ties with their Nazi Party. Taking a breath, Schmidt then invited the group into another room, promising that he would show them exactly what he had been working on. Bringing them into another room in the facility, Schmidt complained to the officers of how Hitler was talking of the thousand years Reich but was failing to deliver or even protect his own men, commenting on how his men died across Europeand yet Hitler was no closer to winning World War II. As Schmidt set up his equipment, Roeder had mocked him by suggesting Schmidt's plans were to win the war with his Magic, although Schmidt insisted it would be through science. While he began to activate his Tesseract-powered weapons, Schmidt had explained how HYDRA was building an arsenal of weapons that would be capable of destroying all his enemies in a matter of hours, although Roeder had then questioned why Schmidt referred to these as only his enemies. As Schmidt then insisted that he had harnessed the power of Asgard, Schneider had called him a madman. However, as Hutter was looking over Schmidt's map of HYDRA targets, he had then noticed that Berlin had been included. Once Hutter insisted that Schmidt would be brought before Hitler for punishment, Schmidt had reacted by shooting his HYDRA Cannon at Hutter, vaporizing him. Reacting in horror at Hutter's demise, Schneider and Roeder tried to flee, as Schmidt then began firing blasts of the Tesseract's energy at them. Although Schneider tried to avoid some shots, Schmidt then succeeded in vaporizing him, before turning his attention to his final target. Finding him desperately attempting to get through the doors, Schmidt took personal pleasure as Roeder screamed in terror during his final seconds before being completely vaporized into nothing. At that moment, Schmidt definitely turned his back to Hitler and their Nazi causes since he felt that HYDRA could grow no more in Hitler's shadow; he then had his men shout "Hail HYDRA!" to show loyalty to him. Arnim Zola was horrified by what he had seen, but still remained loyal to Schmidt and gave a salute. Schmidt smiled upon seeing his men's unwavering loyalty to him before then calmly walking away to continue in his quest to take complete control of the entire world. Taking Control With HYDRA having finally become fully self-funded, Schmidt had then explored his Weapons Facility within Austria, where the prisoners of war were still being forced to construct the new weapons that were powered by the Tesseract. Walking through their facility, Schmidt was then informed by Arnim Zola that everything, including the production of the Valkyrie was currently proceeding on schedule. Despite all of the progress being made by their slave workers being high, Schmidt had then ordered that they increase their workload by an exceptional amount. Although Zola gave his warnings that such an increased workload would likely kill all the men who were already pushed up to the point of complete exhaustion, Schmidt had made it clear that he was not concerned for their wellbeing, noting that if the men died, they could still get more workers to take their place. Freedom Freed from his restraints as Stonekeeper, Red Skull made a hasty return to a drastically changed Earth, where HYDRA was little more than scattered resistance that was being crushed out by an age of heroes. Disgusted at what his faction had become, Red Skull deiceded to cut all ties to the organisatio, and first focus on regaining his lost memories from his years on Vormir. Category:Villains Category:Stonekeepers Category:Nazis Category:Germans